Gman Squad
Gman Squad (stylized as GMAN SQUAD!) is a machinima series by Xanatos and the Janus Syndicate for Machinima.com and YouTube. It centers around several anonymous characters all using the Gman model from Half-Life Deathmatch: Source played by members of the Syndicate. History The first initial popularity spark for Half-Life Deathmatch: Source came when it was packaged on Steam with Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. boris, known for trying out any interesting game he finds with others, got several people to start playing it. He was first joined by X23 and WolfeR, who played a server on the game with the 'crossfire' map, where they teamed up to try and hold the bunker and launch nukes. They later changed their names to "GMAN SQUAD #1" (boris), "...2#" (X23), and "...#3" (Wolfer) to pretend they were a clan for the game. Other members of the Janus Syndicate later started joining them and filmed themselves messing around on public servers, which was the original idea of the series. Xanatos joined up later, noting that their new playing habits were an inside joke, as the game was a poorly converted port of the original. One session, Audioman612 played on a public server and was filmed killing four teaming Gmen with a tau cannon (of which his comment on that was mocked, trimmed, and placed in the first Chat With the Gman Squad). The debut video, Introducing the Gman Squad, was released as a compilation of their videos, of which some of the clips later ended up in Operation: Black Mesa. Both videos were heavily influenced by the film Reservoir Dogs, as Introducing was played to the tune of the theme song "Little Green Bag". Operation: Black Mesa was filmed primarily on November 2007. The intro sequence of Operation: Black Mesa was accidentally filmed by Xanatos via demo recordings while he was busy setting up console commands, which had a heavy influence on the rest of the series. Crackbone, discovered in a Zombie Panic! Source server by Xanatos, was placed in a Zombie Killer Source Mod Todd episode and later recorded with the cast members in Ventrilo to use for segments from Trams onward. After the release of Trams, the series fell into a 4-month hiatus due to the cast members running out of ideas for the series and other video productions were being made. At the end of the hiatus, Xanatos decided to make a community contest episode, and Bored Meeting became the first result, along with the later Gman Squad Idol. Eventually, the Idol was cancelled (even though Augy technically won) and Gman Squad was put into another hiatus by the release of Boris and Clyde. Around October 2010, the eighth episode's production started and was announced by Xanatos shortly after. It was first titled "G-Boyz to G-Men" around 8 PM on November 5 by MrSentual. It was uploaded November 6, and unexpectedly met with requests from Machinima.com to censor explicit words such as Clyde's signature line "faggot". It was finally uploaded on Machinima.com's YouTube page (censored) on November 12. Machinima later removed the episodes from Youtube in 2018, which promoted Xanatos to upload the remaining episodes on his own Youtube channel. Episodes Introducing the Gman Squad The original compilation of videos which feature members of the Janus Syndicate messing around on public servers of Half-Life Deathmatch: Source. It was released November 2007, 1 month before the release of the real first episode. This was treated more as Episode 0, an uncredited part of the series. The original video features many more Gman Squad members than the subsequent episodes; many of the original members left the Janus Syndicate or were random players in some clips. 1: Operation: Black Mesa The series' first full episode features the Gman Squad's purpose: stop the resonance cascade, kill Gordon Freeman, and prevent the Black Mesa Incident. This was assigned to them by an anonymous identity and briefed by boris. They try to complete their objective in an absurdly humorous way - killing scientists while trying to reach the test chamber. Although they massacre most of the scientists, they are nevertheless unable to stop the resonance cascade. 2: Science The series' second episode chronicles the consequences of the Gman Squad's failure to stop the resonance cascade from setting them off. They find Gordon Freeman and kill him, much to the annoyance of a second mysterious identity who earlier claims that the Gman Squad is a joke and places the fate of the world on Freeman. Despite the miserable situation in the facility, the Gmen nevertheless continue messing around and killing personnel as usual, but soon they start running across Xen creatures and the real G-Man. At the end, they have a couple races; the first one was won by STEV, because boris had a head start and was disqualified. 3: Grunts Continuing where the previous episode left off, this third episode marks the first (and possibly only) appearance of the HECU Grunts, who, in the original game, try to contain the situation by killing off all Black Mesa personnel and Xen creatures. A third and final mysterious identity instructs his (unseen) subordinates to eradicate the Gman Squad by "fighting fire with fire", while the Gman Squad still continues to kill scientists. The squad, however, claims the grunts assigned to contain Black Mesa to "steal the show", and kill them off. The Gman Squad reaches the silo with the Xen Tentacles, but this is where the trap is set. A teleport sends the squad out of Black Mesa and they encounter a crew led by future recurring character Clyde, which they kill, forcing Clyde to commit suicide. 4: Trams The fourth episode continues where the previous episode left off. After the Colorful Crew gets killed by the squad, only a pair of Gmen (boris and MrSentual) are left in Dust2. Later they argue on where to go next, but they eventually ask about the whereabouts of the other Gmen; two G-men are in a Doom map (E1M1) ported to HLDM:S, one in an empty Garry's Mod map (gm_flatgrass) and another one (Darkvile) in a Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour game. Later, the two Gmen chase Clyde through a nearby tram network while running over zombies and shooting explosive barrels. In a scene mirroring a boss fight, Clyde shoots Boris in the toe causing him to fall through a tripmine and set off the explosive barrels. While the other Gmen finds a way to rid of Clyde for a long time (by throwing snarks and grenades), he finally manages to shoot explosive barrels in front of Clyde's tram. The exploding barrels push Clyde into water inhabited by an Ichthyosaur, which eats the former later. Meanwhile, the scattered squad members reunite in a wall blocking a railway (set in the Half-Life chapter Power Up). Clyde reappears at this point and harasses again the Gmen, but while the Gmen try to destroy the wall with crowbars, two Gmen ride a tram breaking through the wall killing many Gmen and later Clyde. The tram stops after the tram drivers realize that there was a wall blocking their way. 5: Bored Meeting After running out of ideas, Xanatos and Wolfer decide to call off a meeting with a reward of "a high five, cookies" and something Xanatos is disgusted at. Meanwhile, the race becomes tense. Clyde crazily drives the buggy around the highway, ending in a series of mishaps. The Gmen take a train ride to the studio, while, unknown to everyone, the Matrix Gman has arrived, who would soon spell doom to the squad after shooting a cast member. During the heated race, Crackbone and four Gmen (STEV, boris, Gerald, and Bulgey) get in a fight while a train has a mine planted in it. While Crackbone and the Gmen fight, Bulgey and STEV are shot down, and Gerald is killed by the train exploding. boris escapes with Clyde, while the Matrix Gman captures Xanatos and Wolfer in the studio itself. 6: Christmas Special The episode is generally a non-canon episode where most of the series cast members have a Christmas party at cs_office, while Crackbone crashes on top of a warehouse and tries to get down by calling the warehouse occupant. As the conversation continues throughout the episode, it's revealed that Crackbone is merely prank calling the warehouse and after pushing the occupant to the edge of sanity, he hangs up. At the Christmas party, Darkvile gets a Mr. Bucket game from Crackbone, Gerald and MrSentual get a sweater and a sanitizer, respectively, Zimbabwe gets a proximity mine, Clyde gets crutches and a Scrabble game from Zimbabwe, and STEV gets body armor from Xanatos. Because of countless arguments during the party, the mood is nearly ruined and Xanatos declares that they need Santa. At that point, Santa then comes in and is blown up by Zimbabwe's discarded proximity mine. 7: Boris and Clyde After Crackbone destroys the train from Bored Meeting and shoots down STEV and Bulgey, the Gmen killed in action land outside Heaven (they all try and get through/over a huge gate), while the Matrix Gman, captor of both Xanatos and Wolfer, announces that when boris and Clyde are dead, the former two will be killed next. The latter get out of the water after falling into it in Bored Meeting, and engage in combat with the Combine, with boris killing one with a crowbar. They soon discover that the Combine have taken over the world (in this case, the episode is parallel in plot to Half-Life 2). As the pair reaches the end of the highway, Combine soldiers shoot them to death, also killing Zimbabwe in the process. This is the second time the Gman Show segment has appeared. 8: G-Boyz 2 G-Men The Matrix Gman (revealed to be the Gmanator from Brothers of the Gman Squad) gives short exposition of his plan to get rid of Xanatos and WolfeR but decides go on a picnic lunch first. In the prison, Xanatos decides to wait for their friend to come back when Crackbone wakes up and reveals that he got violent because had a dream and woke up with paper clips in his ear. Meanwhile, Elite-One is introduced arguing with some Gman kids in the presence of Crackbone, who are all killed by a Combine soldier. boris ends up in in front of the Pearly-Jurly gates with the other Gmen outside Heaven, while Clyde is on the other side because God owed him from a stunt in Vegas. He opens the gate for the Gmen, who enter and immediately fall through a trap door. God (voiceover by Sam T.) goes against Clyde's action and tricks him into walking into hidden spikes to fall down with the Gmen. Also, a Gman is ordered to pick up a can for a Combine soldier, but picks up a trash can instead and punts it at the soldier. In a Half-Life 2: Deathmatch game that happened after Xanatos made an announcement to the Janus Syndicate's Steam group to join the server, a player named Deathghost desperately tries to contact Xanatos. While trying to contact Xanatos his mom orders him to "Turn it off". While everyone is laughing a person can slightly hear his mom say "Your ice cream is melting" as is showed in captions. As revealed right after this it is showed that Deathghost wants to "make a Gman show video thing" and wants to make it "better". It ends with a player saying to Deathghost before he leaves "So how old is your mom?". The Gmen fall down through the sky screaming. Two Gmen actually like it, then another Gman remarks that they would eventually hit the ground, and they start screaming again. MrSentual hosts the Gman Squad's Game of the Year segment, where the game of the year is chosen between Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Halo: Reach. Deer Hunter 2005 ends up being the winner. Clyde joins the falling Gmen, along with Augy, who starts giving a speech before being killed by a passing plane that attacks them. A flashback reveals how Augy entered Heaven in the presence of many security guards that attacked him on arrival. Clyde then leads the Gmen in a rocket attack against the plane, which blows up and falls. In a quick show, John aka "Jawn" talks about a recipe in an X23-esque manner. The Gmen and Clyde land in the middle of the ocean with Simpleton (first appearance of a black Gman) unable to swim. They find some islands and swim over. The Gmanator then turns into a Combine soldier and runs along a road, but is crushed by the crashing plane, while Elite-One laughs with a God-esque echo. 9: The Lost Tapes It doesn't directly follow the events of the previous episode, but instead using unused material that would of been used from episodes 1 to 4. There are also alternative takes on existing videos. This starred Boris, HKSniper (Gman, Clyde), Wolfer, STEV, MrSentual, Bulgey, Darkvile, Xanatos, and Crackbone. The Gman Squad Re-mastered This has revisited, and re-edited content from the original Gman Squad's and contains new footage. The Gman Squad is stated to be finished by jsXanatos. Also this is not really a tenth episode to the series, just a polished version of the first three. Cast members :See also: List of Janus Syndicate members Clyde Main article: Clyde Clyde, played by HKSniper, debuted in the Grunts segment Clyde Tells How It Is. He is a 150-year-old scientist who loves Scrabble and riding along in his buggy (in later episodes). He is known for his catchphrase "ya faggot". According to him, he robbed railroad trains since 1864, at about five years old, later joined Black Mesa by unknown means around 1968, operating the silo doors set in the start of the Half-Life chapter "We've Got Hostiles", and has been an employee at Black Mesa for 40 years since. He finds out about the grunts and the Gmen, convincing him and his Colorful Crew (which included Greg the Grunt, Jon, and Coat Girl) to go after them, only to be killed at the end of Grunts and again at the end of Boris and Clyde. Matrix Gman Main article: Matrix Gman The Matrix Gman is the nickname for a Gman who wears sunglasses and talks in a voice based on The Terminator. He is played by Darkvile and first appeared in Bored Meeting. He appears to be able to do different moves and is capable of surviving bullets. Interestingly, he is a hybrid of the G-Man (which the squad itself is based after) and Agent Smith from The Matrix. In G-Boys 2 G-Men, it is revealed that the Matrix Gman is a form of the Gmanator from Brothers of the Gman Squad. Black Mesa scientists See more: Black Mesa scientists These are scientists that work for Black Mesa. They are very cowardly among aliens, but are helpful to the player during Gordon Freeman's adventure. They appear in Gman Squad as being killed by Gmen. Mr. X See: Mr. X He is an anonymous person among interdimensional bureaucrats who sends Gman Squad to stop a resonance cascade. After the Squad's failure in Episode 1, he has pulled a plot right out of "The Producers". Mr. Y See: Mr. Y He is another anonymous person who sends a message, saying that the Gman Squad is a joke and the fate of the universe lies in the Freeman, which became upsetting to him after the Squad killed Freeman. Mr. Z See: Mr. Z Like Mr. X and Mr. Y, he is another anonymous bureaucrat who devises a plan to teleport the Gman Squad members out of Black Mesa at the end of Grunts. His identity is explored more in-depth at the beginning of Trams. Zombies Main article: Xen creatures Zombies are humans that has been taken over by a headcrab into a host body. They make various important appearances in Trams, in which one part involves a few in a tram behind the Gmen chasing Clyde asking them for their insurance information because they have killed other zombies. Xen creatures Main article: Xen creatures As a result of the Black Mesa Incident, Earth was infested with teleported species from Xen. The Gman Squad repeatedly runs across them, and sometimes perceive them as harmless, while fighting others, including Vortigaunts and Bullsquids. Gordon Freeman In Half-Life, he is a scientist involved in an experiment gone wrong, and later traverses throughout the Black Mesa Facility and fight aliens to survive. In the series, he also fulfills the same role, however, he has appeared in occasional skits and was the target of the squad in'' Science. HECU Grunts They are soldiers from the USMC Special Forces division sent to Black Mesa to cover up the incident. They were deployed with instructions to contain the incident by any means-even if it means killing enemies and human allies to silence witnesses. In ''Grunts, the G-men meet the Grunts who have killed the scientist they want to kill, resulting in the G-men killing all the grunts. Greg the Grunt He appears at the end of Grunts, as a part of the "Colorful Crew" led by Clyde that are killed by two surviving G-men. It is said that he played so much Counter-Strike and later became an enthusiast and plays RL. Jon He appeared at the end of Grunts, as a part of the "Colorful Crew". Combine Soldiers The Combine are an interdimensional empire that had taken over Earth after the Nihilanth's demise in Half-Life, and are responsible for opening a portal rift into Earth allowing an invasion. In Half-Life 2, they are the primary antagonists. In the series, they serve as antagonists in the later episodes of the series, beginning with Bored Meeting. Factory Guy The Factory Guy is the owner of a factory warehouse in the Crackbone segments of Christmas Special who is the target of Crackbone's prank calls. Santa Claus Played as a reskinned Father Grigori, he appears in the Christmas Special briefly before he gets killed by a proximity mine given to Zimbabwe. Combine train operator He is a train operator appeared in Boris and Clyde near a train where boris and Clyde kill him; the former respawns at the end killing them and Zimbabwe with a few Combine Soldiers, saying "What now, ya faggot?" Gman Squad Idol A Gman Squad initiation contest, now officially called the Gman Squad Idol, was first brought up in the episode Bored Meeting as an excuse to make a fifth episode after their hiatus. The Janus Syndicate, specifically STEV, had taken the initiative to create a simple procedure to enter the contest, which ties into their original "initiation video" by Wolfer. Current members * televators * Boredbum * definitely not bill * H.O|`n1pples * (1SG) Soviet Shaffy * Augy * Gormanmod * The Unknown Soldier Kael * -GoV- Jecalux90 (1 € ≠ 1 $) Judging The deadline for entry was January 26, 2009 and featured nine finalists. The judges are the real Gman Squad cast members and they will be deciding soon. The winner will be posted on the Player of the Week of the official Steam group. Unfortunately, the contest was never truly finished, though the two people who eventually became Janus Syndicate members were Soviet Shaffy and Augy. It was later revealed, however, that Augy was the winner of the Idol, and had a chance to make an acceptance speech during G-Boys 2 G-Men. Brothers of the Gman Squad Brothers of the Gman Squad (also known as Gman Squad Brothers) is a spinoff microseries of Gman Squad, co-created by Gman Squad creator boris and Source Wars/CS Kids co-host STEV and released on boris's (ppjeremy) YouTube channel. It features the lesser known brothers of the original Gman Squad, the auxillary squad always on the tail of the well-known team. They were planned to be released every Sunday after filming the week before on their own private Half-Life Deathmatch: Source server. #1 At Black Mesa, Barney Calhoun knocks on a door near the opening area of Half-Life, when he is blown up and the Brothers come in, commenting on that and raging. They open the door and wreak havoc on the Black Mesa facility trying to reach the tram, when they reached the tram station and they were late to the tram. A distance away, the real Gman Squad ride away on their tram to start off their assignment from Operation: Black Mesa. One of them rages and kills a few comrades, and they all rage in the end. #2: Hoofin` It In the intro, they play some soccer in a large playing field. They end up in a circle on ramp stairs, and one Gman decides to call in for a tram. Another calls the front desk of Sector C, which was destroyed and deserted due to the Gmen arriving at the facility. He says that nobody answered and they all rage at him and amongst themselves, which is later broken by one Gman having a plan. He lines them up and explains that they must chase the tram by using their tau cannons to blast into the train tunnel. They fly in one by one expect for one lone Gman who claims it would've been a lot easier with them around. He imagines that he would be run over by a tram when he is called over by a Gman and he flies in. They explore an area while Bulgey's brother talks about the fact that he enjoys tea and crumpits and that he and Bulgey were watching cricket on TV the previous night. They find a large hole which they fall in, and one falls in and is blown up at the bottom. The door closes to it, and they become mildly surprised at it. #3: Catching Up This episode marks the beginning of Season 2, after a short hiatus lasting about a month. The new intro for this season shows the auxiliary squad hanging out in a club. Continuing from where the previous episode left off, the Gmen try to catch up with the main squad, and manage to, by walking on the long tram lines that connect the dormitories to Sector C. As they arrive home, the ceiling collapses. External Links * Janus Syndicate website * Xanatos on YouTube * boris on YouTube * Machinima.com Forums thread Category:Machinima Category:Janus Syndicate